Enjoy homecoming weekend, but stay safe: Our View

The homecoming parade at 10 a.m. Saturday will kick off a day of festivities.

Happy homecoming! Old friends and alumni will gather this weekend on and around the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to visit old haunts, reminisce about old times and join the festivities. The homecoming parade happens today at 10 a.m., followed by the all-campus picnic at 11 a.m. at DeBot Fields. Tonight, the university will honor distinguished alumni at the 2013 Awards Banquet.

But the downside of a big, weekend party is that, well, sometimes things get a little out of hand. Police say they're planning to increase patrols tonight to control problems such as fights, vandalism and underage drinking.

"We've had a big push about being respectful to the community and being safe," UWSP Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Al Thompson told Stevens Point Journal Media this week. Let's see everyone - current students and alumni, too - be safe and smart, and have a great homecoming weekend.

Hospital's big expansion benefits city

The planned expansion of Ministry Saint Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point is a big deal that could mean more jobs and a shot in the arm to the local economy. Ministry is seeking city approval for a proposed 15,000-square-foot expansion on the south end of the hospital.

And it's needed, according to Saint Michael's President Jeff Martin, who noted that the hospital's emergency room was designed some 30 years ago to handle about 27,000 patient visits a year. In 2012, the ER saw 40,000.

It's a major construction project with an estimated cost of between $18 million and $20 million. That money will also serve to create local jobs related to the construction. We hope to see Stevens Point City Council and the state approve building permits so the expansion can go forward.

Creske's legacy will go on

Those big, red, concrete balls in front of Target. The McDonald's trash cans, the seemingly indestructible ones with the pebbles on the outside. Furniture or tile or wall treatments and more at the U.S. Capitol, Mount Rushmore and Reagan National Airport. Wausau Tile has gone everywhere, and the company has supported thousands of central Wisconsin families since its founding in 1953.

Its founder, Mosinee native Edward J. Creske, died Wednesday at 86 in Palm Springs, Calif. The company that he built continues on, with 350 employees in its 450,000-square-foot Rothschild facilities and clients all over the globe. It's a major regional employer and a central Wisconsin company with a truly global reach.

And he leaves a lasting mark on the region. He paid for the Mosinee School District's Creske Community Center and donated to his church and many charitable efforts. Creske lived the American dream, and he will be missed.

Volunteers help lost dogs to be found

For a lot of us, a dog is a member of the family, and losing a dog is a wrenching experience. Lost Dogs of Wisconsin is a nonprofit organization that uses volunteers and harnesses the power of social media to help people connect with their lost dogs. It has a website and a Facebook page that allows people to report if they have lost a dog - or if they've found one, and it works with local shelters and rescues to reunite animals with their owners.